Published on May 14, 1998
I am a huge Metallica fan and this is my favorite CD of all
time. Bet you can’t guess what rating I’m giving it.
…And Justice For All came at a critical time in this
band’s career. Today, it can be seen as the pivotal disc between
the “old” Metallica, who liked to admit to being a heavy metal
band, and the “new” Metallica, who like to deny they have anything
to do with the genre of heavy metal.
Musically, this divisionn is clear cut. Their first discs,
starting from 1983’s
Kill ‘Em All and continuing through this CD, featured an
increased awareness rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and drummer
Lars Ulrich songwriting style. These early songs are built around a
rhythm guitar and drums and, perhaps because of that, lend
themselves to intricate melodies and harmonies.
Consider “Eye of the Beholder” which is in 4/4 time except for
occasional measures of 5/4 time. Consider “Blackened” which is in
6/4 time.
The breakthrough video for the band came from the song “One”
which happenes to be in ¾ time, the same signature as most
waltzes, until the thrashy part of the song at the end.
It also marked the first disc for new bassist Jason Newsted who,
yet today, bitches about his bass sound. In a recent Metal Edge
magazine, he was asked, “If you could do one thing over again, what
would it be?” His response was to have a better bass sound on this
disc. Sigh. This album is just under 10 years old and he hasn’t
gotten over it?? The other important note about his appearance is
that the band’s second bassist (c’mon, who was their first?) Cliff
Burton had just passed away in a bus accident in Europe.
On another note, this album marked the end of the “Metallica
all-out thrasher” track that had been on every album previously. On
Kill ‘Em All, it was “Whiplash.” On
Ride The Lightning, it was “Fight Fire with Fire” and on
Master Of Puppets, it was “Battery.” They did go out with a
bang. The last track, “Dyer’s Eve” is an uptempo, quick five
minutes. To my knowledge, the band has never reproduced this song
live. The lyrics are blatant “Go to hell Mom and Dad” and Hetfield
is ferocious in these opening lyrics:
Dear mother, dear father
What is this hell you have put me through
Believer, deceiver
Day in day out live my life through you
Pushed onto me what’s wrong or right
Hidden from this thing that they call life
Not since this song has Hetfield opened his heart to his inner
turmoil and he is at his best on this track.
And we can’t forget the lyrics on this disc either. Hetfield is
given credit for all of them and, not since this disc, has he
achieved as high of a level of intelligent lyrics. He went downhill
from here with
Metallica‘s “Your brain is still gelatin” (from one of the
few songs never pushed, “Holier Than Thou”,
Load (the whole damned thing) and
Re-Load (the whole damned thing).
This is an intense disc with a lot of ear candy for those who
like intelligent heavy metal. Probably my favorite Metallica song
of all is on this album. No, not “One.” It’s a track called “The
Frayed Ends of Sanity.” You’ll know when you get to it because
you’ll recognize the chant from “The Wizard of Oz” movie. At 7:40
for length, it’s not too long, and not too short – it’s just right.
Guitarist Kirk Hammett is so “there” with his lead and Hetfield’s
relatively simple riff is captivating. Ulrich is utterly amazing
with his double bass fills and quick cymbal work.
I’d encourage you to find this disc and give it a couple of
spins, especially if you only discovered Metallica with “the black
album” or
Load or even
Re-Load. The arguments about this band “selling out” have
grown fierce for the last 7 years when
Metallica came out. I’ve viewed a couple “Metallica sucks”
web pages (which I think just proves that those webmasters have all
of my spare time) as well as pages that have declared “Metallica is
the GREATEST band EVER!!!!!!!!!!” (That’s a direct quote). To get
both sides of the story, these newcomers to the band need to hear
the pre-
Metallica discs.
Of course, I suggest starting with this one.